Gravity-locked escape pod?

[Rhakka]

Hey all,

first off, this is my first post.. let me just say THANK YOU!!! Man, I loved Elite so much, this is the coolest thing ever to get to play it again after so many years.

Anyway, before I gush too much, I just dl'ed 1.65 for the mac and noticed when I eject an escape pod I've picked up via fuel scoops it tends to "hover" around me no matter what my speed or heading. In fact there seems to be some reoccurance of "orbiting" junk around me now, with my new fuel scoop indicator acting like it's working but without picking stuff up for awhile.

Am I crazy?

[Odo987]

Yes, that's normal. When you get close to an object your tractor beam locks onto it and tries to drag it in. The beam is not very powerful and has to fight to reconcile your velocity against the object's velocity. After bouncing around at the end of an invisible string for a while, the object eventually gets wrestled into your cargo bay. It's quicker if you slow down.

The behaviour of this beam has been tweaked in the last several versions. Previously it was too strong, then it was too weak, now it seems to be better. But it does yo-yo and orbit a bit. Sometimes it results in clusters of overlapping cargo pods:
http://static.flickr.com/44/173672863_0fb43f1329_o.jpg
(Screenshot by Rxke)

[Rhakka]

Hmm, seems to have gotten stronger from 1.62 then.

Is there a "disable tractor" key so I can eject cargo and get it the heck away from me? heheh..

Thanks for the info!

[JensAyton]

You can drop the cargo by running away from it; fuel injecting or jumping will do the trick.

I find the best way to scoop is to fly at moderate to fast speed almost straight at the canister, so it hits the ship only just under the centerline. Done right, this grabs it immediately with no yo-yoing.

[GoreLeech]

dude LOL that picture is awsome!